


The Darkest Sea

by adriiadventures



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: M/M, Merfolk AU, Swearing, mermaid au, merman au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-16
Updated: 2014-07-27
Packaged: 2018-02-09 02:55:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1966272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adriiadventures/pseuds/adriiadventures
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Jeanmarco fanfic in a Merfolk AU where Jean realizes his feelings towards Marco. Two halves might just make a whole.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Favor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any kind of suggestions/comments/feedback is very much appreciated! Thank you. c:

Small, cerulean angelfish circled around a strange boy sitting in the center of a local park. It was just after school hours of the local high school in the obscure underwater village of strange merfolk and magical beings. His stark black hair struck out in the sea of ever-growing fish. Jean’s interest piqued as the kid got up and turned his way.  _Shit, did he see me?_ He didn’t dare acknowledge the fact that he was spying on his classmate- they shared a few classes together- and kept on staring as if he didn’t notice that he had been caught.  
  
A sparkling grin flashed his way accompanied by a quick wave. Huffing, he swam away before the overly sweet teenager approached him. Trying to find refuge in an underwater cave that he found near the surface, he headed to the outskirts of town. A dark, murky maroon tail swam in the opposite direction of Marco, and for once, he decided to be brave enough to follow. He thought it had been Jean he had seen. They had math together- a subject he could tell Jean loathed- as well as a Journalism class. Jean always looked so distracted and uncaring math, but he seemed alive in Journalism as if he had stumbled upon something he loved.  _What I’d give for passion towards something like he has…_  

Simple curiosity, and a small crush Marco had been harboring over the past few months of their junior year, compelled him to swim after Jean’s retreating figure.   
  
 _Why the hell is Marco Bodt following me?_ He futilely tried out-swimming him, but Marco had been on Varsity Swim for the past 3 years. No way would he ever out maneuver him even if they were in more or less unknown territory. Sighing, he gave up and turned around. He wasn’t going to let Marco discover his personal hideout. It was the only place he could use to escape from all his problems, from people, from the world.   
  
"What do you want?" he abruptly asked. His eyes strained against the dark colors of the water, which mixed in with Marco’s dark-as-night hair and tail. "I know you followed me here."  
  
Marco shied out away from the large rock he had managed to hide behind just as Jean turned around. His dark form straightened, as he gathered himself up before starting to talk. “S-sorry about that! I didn’t mean to follow you, but, you looked like you needed someone to talk to…”  
  
Jean’s intense, light-brown eyes pierced into where he guesstimated Marco’s own eyes would be. “Whatever. Just don’t follow me anymore.” He turned around quicker this time, and managed to swim away before Marco could get a word out of his mouth.   
  
 _Sorry Jean, but that’s not going to happen._ Marco was determined to figure out what was going on with Trost’s most unsociable teenager.  
  
Jean's blond bangs flopped smack onto his face as he surfaced up from the water, finally having reached an open cavern that he liked to relax in. He shimmied onto a nearby rock and laid out, feelings his skin grow colder against moss covered stone. His thoughts drifted back to Marco, letting out a soft sigh. Why didn't I just let him come with me? I fucked up. Jean almost never talked to any of his classmates, only a few people could even tolerate him and he wouldn't consider any of them as close friends. He had just passed up one of the rare chances he got to actually make friends. Instead of letting people inside of the walls he had built he always ended up pushing them even further away.  
  
Trying to forget about everything school related- and even worse, what he would do after school- he crossed his tanned arms over his head and blankly stared at the pitch-black ceiling. Thoughts still managed to worm their way into his consciousness, appearing from the most secluded parts of his mind. Every time he tried swimming away from the problems he was facing they would just come back and smack him like a flounder in the face. No matter what he said or did, he would end up reliving each mistake he had made recently. Starting with failing his one of the many AP Physics exams they had each month, and ending with turning Marco away.  
  
His arms grasped the air in front of him as he tried to lift himself up from the rock, having to fight gravity for the first time in a while. It wasn't quite the same as when he was underwater. Splashing into the water, he decided to take the long way back to his house. As Jean was passing the coral reefs nearby, he felt around in his backpack for his journal. He always thought it was stupid to carry on a journal- _What am I, an overemotional prick?_ \- but nonetheless he used it all the time, scribbling away random streams of words that struck out to him. Lately, his writing had been getting better, but it kept taking dark turns before he even realized. Instead of writing about nature and happy daydreams Jean used to have about his future, the pages were riddled with the darkest monsters imaginable. Instead of finding the leather bound book on inside he found a sticky note. He stopped abruptly to read it. “Come and get it, Kirschtine,” was scribbled in messy handwriting. _Who the **fucking hell** would rummage through my bag?_   Without giving it second thought, he swam to Mikasa’s house to strangle Eren. All the idiots he talked to that he could consider friends all hung out at Mikasa and Eren’s house after school- Armin, Sasha, Connie, and sometimes Marco, Reiner, Bertholdt, and Annie. Jean wouldn’t admit it, but half of the poetry he had written was describing his crush on Mikasa. And by now, Eren had probably leafed through the book at least twice. _…Damn it, Jaeger_.  
  
Other houses passed by in a blur until he finally managed to reach the nondescript, light beige house he had been looking for. His knuckles banged at the door twice, waiting for someone to get the door. Mikasa was the one to open it, surprised to see him at her door. “Hey, Jean. Did you need something?” He didn’t normally hang out with them after school, and it was a rare occasion when he’d stop by at their house.  
  
“Can you tell your stupid brother to get his ass out here?” His brows furrowed as grew even more impatient. _God, he could be showing the journal to the others for all I know._  
  
“Adoptive brother,” she corrected him, as she usually did, before turning around and yelling inside, “Eren, Jean’s here to see you!” She practically floated back inside as her angelic form was replaced by Eren.  
  
“Yo! So you got my note, huh, Kirstchine?” Eren smirked gleefully.  
  
Jean rolled his eyes, wanting the torture to be over already. “Just give it back.”  
  
“Sure dude, no problem…I just need you to do me a favor, first.”


	2. A Happy Birthday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jean's night ends with a pleasant surprise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any kind of suggestions/comments/feedback is very much appreciated! Thank you. c:

Jean stared, open-mouthed and shocked. _What the hell does Eren need me for?_ "Go on," he urged him.

"Yeah, hold a sec," Eren swam out onto the wooden porch and closed the door behind him. "I need you to give this to Levi for me. Don't tell anyone, okay?" Eren's eyes shied away from Jean's intense stare as he handed over a small white envelope covered with hearts.

"Jaeger, are you kidding?" Jean grinned in disbelief. "You're asking me to pass on some love letter from you to… Levi?"

His eyes avoided any type of contact, choosing instead to focus on the floor and fish that passed by. "We've been, uh, dating for a while. I don't see him very often- he doesn't want anyone to know- and it'd be strange if I gave him that at school. I can't get away from family tonight and it's Levi's birthday. It's not really something I can email him, either." Finally noticing Jean's smirk, Eren turned bright pink. "J-just shut up and stop grinning and I'll give your journal back. I mean after all, I'm sure you wouldn't want me showing Mikasa what you've written inside…" They both knew fairly well how to manipulate each other at this point in their friendship.

"Okay, fine. I'll give it to him on my way home." It really wasn't on his way back, but he'd go out of his way. _Why couldn't Eren just ask me to give him the letter instead of blackmailing me into it?_ "You've got a strange way of getting your friends to do you favors, Jaeger."

"Haha! Yeah, I do," Eren started to head back inside, but stopped halfway. "You coming inside or what?" Jean's face looked like a puppy that'd just been given a bone.

Jean bit his lip and nodded, deciding to just go for it. He'd already turned away a good opportunity to have fun with his friends today. He followed Eren down the hallway and into the gaming room. Jean sat down on the couch next to Connie who was playing Titanfall with Sasha. "Hey Connie, Sasha. Mind if I play with you guys?"

"Of course we don't mind! It's been forever since we've seen you. Anything interesting been going on?" Connie chirped, being even more pleasant than usual.

He fiddled with the control for a while before getting used to the feel of the game. Shooters were normally more fun when played in groups, and Jean didn't have many people to play with. He usually stuck to Pokémon and whatever RPGs he could find. "Nah, nothing news worthy's happened. I'm sure you would've found out if something had, Sasha," _You little snoop._ He wouldn't be surprised if she knew the next morning about his run in with Marco.

Eren quietly disappeared out of the room once everyone was laughing at something he found stupid that Jean had said, and tiptoed into the kitchen. He ducked his head under the sink and looked around in the bottom cupboard for Jean's journal. Once he had the journal in his sleeve, he lifted his head up and smacked the top of the sink. "Shit, owww…"

Jean shot Eren a baffled look as he walked back into the room with an ice pack on his head and his journal in the other. "Here you go, horseface."

After about an hour of gaming and trying to sneak looks at Mikasa, which lead him to dying a few times, he finally decided to go and run Eren's tedious errand. "I should head on home now. See you guys tomorrow," he lied, knowing he wouldn't make any effort to go and sit with them at lunch.

"I'll walk you out," a voice came from behind him. Mikasa had already taken his arm and dragged him outside before he noticed what was going on. "What'd you want with Eren?"

 _Oh. Of course, no way would she want to talk to me without it being about Jaeger._ Jean rolled his eyes and shrugged his arm out of her iron grip. "He had something of mine I had left at school, jeez."

"Huh, fine. Sorry if I hurt your arm." Her black eyes still pierced the back of his skull as he headed towards Levi's house.

Jean swam away and started humming "Bloodstream" by one of his favorite bands, Stateless, and managed to get himself lost in the street of cookie cutter houses. _God damn it, which one is Levi's? Fuck it._ He filled his lungs up with air and yelled out Levi's name.

It worked like a charm- the door of a bright orange house opened and out came the angry senior. His short frame barreled towards Jean, clearly pissed off that the whole neighborhood had heard. He stopped once he saw Jean's outstretched hand holding a small envelope that said "Levi~".

"Eren's a fucking weirdo and had me give this to you. Said he couldn't get out of the house tonight." Levi took the envelope and smiled. It was the first time in a long while anyone other than his boyfriend had seen him smile. "Happy birthday, Levi."

"Tch, thanks. Now get lost before someone reports the stranger outside of their houses yelling out my name." Levi turned away and swam back up the steps, pausing before he closed the door. "Your house is that way." He figured Jean had gotten lost at some point.

"…Thanks," Jean muttered to the sand beneath his tail. He started swimming towards the main street that Levi had pointed out, and out of the nice neighborhood in town. He practically floated past the park, the skating rink where he had probably left one of his various skateboards, and high school.

"Hey! Jean! Wait up," a voice panted from somewhere behind him.

He looked around, confused as to who would be calling out his name. "Huh? Who's there?"

"Oh, sorry, I guess you can't see me. It's me, Marco." _God damn it Marco, you and your stupid dark tail hiding from me._ "I saw you swimming towards the older part of town- I live around there too. Could I walk with you?"

"Uh, sure. I can't really see you though." Jean swam a few feet forward and ran right into Marco's arm.

"Sorry, sorry!" Marco nervously laughed- he hadn't expected Jean to let him come along. "Would it help if we held hands or something?"

Even though it was dark, they were standing close enough that Marco could still make out the light pink that was Jean's blush. "S-sure…Which way's your house?" Jean almost smacked himself in the face. _What'd I just agree to?_ He tried rationalizing the situation to himself- it was dark, they were both alone, and it was in a more dangerous part of town. He could barely even see Marco; holding hands was just so they could both stay together and reach home safely.

"Just down the street a few blocks, nothing too far. Sorry for dragging you this way."

"…It's fine. My house is actually across the street and a few doors down from yours." Marco's smile brightened up his face, and caused Jean to chuckle.

A few minutes later, they were swimming up the steps to their own houses and disappearing inside the doors. While Marco tried to calm himself down and get rid of his blush, Jean scurried straight to his room and plopped his book bag on his bed next to him. He emptied out his bag when he noticed a stray piece of scarp paper. _I'm going to kill Jaeger if it's from him._ Instead of finding more messy scrawl, he found Marco's phone number folded up on the small piece of paper. "Text me!" he could practically hear Marco say with the world's biggest smile on his dorky face.

 _Maybe I should try and talk to Marco tomorrow at school…_ Jean fell fast asleep looking out the window while fish passed on by.


	3. He Likes Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any kind of suggestions/comments/feedback is very much appreciated! Thank you. c:

_Beep. Beep. Beep._ Jean's mother knocked once and opened his bedroom door, marching towards the head of his bed. She immediately swiped his pillow out from under his head and whacked him with it, not even trying to shake away the blue lump that is Jean every morning. A muffled groan made its way from inside the covers and to the outside world. His hand snaked upwards towards the alarm, half shielding his eyes from sun and half trying to stop the sounds of torture, and smashed every book, pen, and snack on his nightstand. Jean plopped himself off of the bed, rolling onto the floor and stared at the ceiling.  _Fuck. Why won't it_ ** _stop_** _?_ Jean's head almost split in two just standing up and turning the alarm off. Practically slumping his way to the door he went to take a shower and get dressed before swimming off to school. Knowing Marco lived right across the street, he couldn't help but shower just a little faster and eat breakfast just a little bit faster.  
  
"Bye, I'll be back after school," Jean shouted as he put his jacket on and slipped out the door. His eyes shifted across the street quickly hoping to catch Marco on their way to school.   
  
He couldn't stop reimagining how he and Marco had held hands the night before. It was only because it was dark outside and potentially dangerous- they could barely even  _see_  each other, it wasn't anything more than that. But still, Jean kept going back to the tingling feel he experienced when Marco's fingers twitched and fluttered against his. It was as if only the tips of his fingers and palms were warm; all of his body was freezing cold outside, but somehow Marco heated up that little part of his body. Even a little bit of contact was more than Jean was used to- he was never much of a hugger or a touchy-feely kind of person. But with Marco, he wanted to walk him home safely every night just to make sure he wasn't attacked in their neighborhood, and if handholding was a perk, then he wouldn't be too terribly opposed.   
  
Jean swam towards the front steps of Trost High, avoiding most of the people he could and heading more towards the trees. On his way up the stairs he saw Varsity Swim practicing off to his left on the football field. He let himself be side tracked and watched for a bit, trying to spot out Marco in the crowd of competitive swimmers. It wasn't very hard to find him- most people had blond hair like Armin or were insanely tall like Ymir. Jean was a mix of both, not too tall and with brown hair. Marco was at completely opposite ends of the normal spectrum. He had short black hair, the cutest light brown freckles spotting across one cheek to the other, and was extremely short- he couldn't be much taller than 5'2.   
  
A shrilling noise starting ringing in Jean's ear for the second time that day, and this time, he couldn't be bothered to care.   
  
He didn't have anyone he really talked to in his morning classes and by lunch time all Jean wanted was to skip the classes he had left. Instead, he stared off blankly at the bleachers across from his lunch table outside. His eyes wandered off to the football field where he had seen Marco that morning.  _Does he have this lunch period, too?_  
  
A blue backpack plopped onto the bench opposite him as Bertholdt sat down. "Jean! So this is where you sit, huh. No wonder we can never find you at lunch. Mind if we sit with you?" Her smile was friendly enough but Bert's eyes glimmered with a hint of mischief. She was up to something, and he couldn't quite figure out what.   
  
“Yeah, sure.” Bert motioned behind his back, and before Jean had finished his sentence, he could see Reiner and Marco heading towards their table. Jean’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, “Look’s like we’re having a party, huh?” Bertholdt grinned back at him.  
  
“H-hi, Jean!” Marco nervously smiled as he sat down opposite of him.   
  
“Uh, hey. Don’t you leave early today for a swim meet or something?”   
  
“In about ten minutes, actually. The meet doesn’t start until after school ends; we’re just going early to get some practice in. Would you want to come watch? Mikasa and Armin are coming, too!” Marco grinned from ear to ear, hoping Jean would be able to come and watch him. “Unless you’re busy, which is totally fine, I was just thinking that-“  
  
“I’ll come and watch.” He couldn’t bear to see Marco keep rambling. _A nervous habit, huh. He’s cute when he’s blushing._  
  
“Awesome. Well, I should be going now, but see you later!” Marco almost tripped over his own fins as he grabbed his bag and swam away. Jean waved goodbye to him even though he knew Marco wouldn’t be able to see.  
  
“So, you and Freckles?” Reiner winked at him, hinting with his eyebrows that something was going on between the both of him.   
  
Bertholdt let out a long laugh, “I didn’t see that one coming, Jean. You dating Marco, of all people, that’s so cute.”  
  
 _What the fuck._ “We aren’t dating, you assholes. We’re just friends.”  
  
“It’ll happen soon enough.” Neither of them could stop smiling at Jean. “You’d love to be more than friends, wouldn’t you? Come on, we won’t judge.”   
  
_I don’t feel that way about Marco, of all people. He’s a guy! I’m not gay._ Despite that, his whole face turned a deep shade of pink, and even the tip of his ears started to change color. “Why the fuck does it even matter?”  
  
“Marco’s had a crush on you since freshman year, you blind idiot.” With that, Reiner got up from the table, grabbed Bert’s hand, and walked away. _  
  
_Jean didn’t have experience with romantic relationships; people were normally too intimidated by him to be friends with him, let alone try to ask him out. _Holding his hand was really, really nice…_ Grabbing his bag before the lunch bell rang he headed off to find Marco before the swim meet started. Jean would have more than enough time to figure out his feelings on his way there.


	4. Slowing Down

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any kind of suggestions/comments/feedback is very much appreciated! Thank you. c:

Jean's thoughts drifted back to the first time he had spoken to Marco. It wasn't really the first time they had 'met'- they both observed each other from far away. Both boys were fairly observant of their surroundings.

\---

It was their first day of high school and everyone was groaning about the amount of homework they had. Shadis, their Geometry teacher, had intimidated half of the people there into being scared of their teacher, and the other half were 'excited to learn more about math'. You have to be insane like Armin to be excited about doing school work.. Jean's eyes scanned the room for someone to talk to. A distraction, even if it'd only last for a while. His eyes passed over a few people he didn't know yet. He decided to sit down at an empty desk and whoever came to sit next to him would have to do. He hoped that he might even find someone to study with after school.

 

A gentle-looking and freckled boy opened the door to the classroom and slipped in quietly. He, like Jean, had no idea who to approach or where to sit. _Maybe I'll go sit with that guy. He looks pretty lonely, sitting all by himself!_

 

"Hi, I'm Marco. Can I sit with you?" his smile shone as he politely asked.

 

"Sure. I'm Jean. Nice to meet you, Marco."

\---

Jean never spoke to Marco very often outside of school. He never spoke to many people outside of school- they only reason he hung out with Mikasa and her friends was because they had video games in common. It was easy for Jean and the others to melt into a conversation about trivial subjects. Jean wanted to get to know Marco better, as a friend. That was all. _Friends can hold hands, there's nothing wrong with that. Just friends._ He knew he had to talk to Marco soon; he wanted to invite him over to study or play games.

 

His phone started buzzing in his back pocket. Jean stopped swimming and reached his hand to get out his phone. "Missed Call- Mom" appeared on his home screen. _No, I can't go back home now. I promised him I'd go to the meet._ He redialed her and waited for her to pick up the phone.

 

"I thought you got out of school early today! You said you'd be here right after school. I need you to watch the shop while I go out." He audibly groaned into the phone. "Get back here, now. I'll leave the keys in the usual place."

 

"Yes, ma'am." Jean's eyes flickered to the school in front of him. He could see the half-empty parking lot and students in swim suits walking inside. _What was I thinking? Of course I'll never get the chance to be one of them._ He sighed, turned around, and swam to the bakery that his mother owned.

 

Marco looked around for Jean- he didn't see him in the bleachers sitting next to Mikasa or Armin, and he wouldn't possibly be in the bathroom for such a long period of time. He smiled and shook his head. Marco wouldn't worry about it; he was confidant that Jean was running late or he had a good reason for ditching. _...Right?_

 

The rock sank to the bottom floor of the ocean as Jean kicked away and reached for the key. He swam inside angrily and flipped the close sign over to the other side. He yanked his phone out again from his back pocket, hoping to find Marco's number. Jean scrolled through his contact list twice before giving up and sitting down behind the counter.

 

NEW MESSAGE

TO: IDIOT

what's marco's number?

 

Hopefully, he would get a response from Jaeger before the swim meet started. Marco deserved at least an explanation for why he hadn't gone to the meet.

 

NEW MESSAGE

FROM: IDIOT

y do u want to kno? surrender to the ghey side

(468) 661-7983

 

Jean rolled his eyes and saved the contact number before deleting his conversation. _The 'ghey side'? Fuck, Jaeger, you get stranger each day._

 

NEW MESSAGE

TO: FRECKLES

hey marco. i can't go to the swim meet, i have to help my mother with some stuff, sorry.

 

He turned off his phone, grabbed his notebook from his backpack, and started drifting off while waiting for store hours to end.

 

\---

"Mikasa, what's Marco's usual time for breaststroke?" Armin inquired. He had glanced over the board with times and was getting worried that he wouldn't end with his usual time.

 

She thought for a few seconds. Memorizing Marco's swim times wasn't one of her areas of expertise."24 point something, pretty fast. Why?"

 

"He just got 30 seconds." Both of them stared slack-jawed at the scoreboard. Something was going on in Marco's head; they had to get rid of whatever was distracting him before it affected him too badly.


	5. Friends?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any kind of suggestions/comments/feedback is very much appreciated! Thank you. c:

The bed curved as Marco flopped onto his bed after the swim meet, still exhausted from competing in freestyle, breaststroke, and the medley. Compared to his previous times he hadn’t done particularly well this time. His thoughts drifted back towards Jean; he knew it was doltish to believe he would actually show up. _Of course Jean wouldn’t want to be my friend- no one ever does._  
  
He turned over onto his side and grabbed his phone from the swim bag laying discarded on the floor.   
  
1 NEW MESSAGE-  
From: (468) 513-4729  
hey marco. i can't go to the swim meet, i have to help my mother with some stuff, sorry.

  
Marco wanted to believe that Jean was telling the truth- that Jean hadn’t just decided not to show up- and closed his eyes, thinking of the inner good everyone had inside of them. Moving to turn off his lamp, he agreed with himself that he would simply go over to Jean’s sometime over the weekend and say he understood. _A pleasant, agreeable approach. Nothing can really go wrong, right?_  
  
\---  
  
“Jshheaan!” His bedroom door slammed for the second time that day. “Kid, you dumb shit, you left the lights on in the shtore,” she angrily spat her out. “Wha’re ya ev’n good for ish you can’t watch the store while I guh out wish my phriends?”  
  
 _Oh god, she’s drunk again._ Jean stopped moving completely; he wouldn’t allow himself to breathe for the next thirty seconds. He had gotten enough practice at playing dead until she believed he was asleep and left the room. The next morning, his mother would be mad. Angry with herself, not Jean, but would still punish him for it.   
  
“Fine, we’ll discush thish tomorrow,” and she left his room with a soft click as the door moved back into it’s rightful place- closed.   
  
Jean had no idea how irate she was this time, her anger was usually the scale of how bad the punishments were, and he only hoped that he would be able to keep his phone for the next week. His hands moved to retrieve it from his nightstand. NO NEW MESSAGES. Had Marco even bothered to read his text? _What if he just deleted it without reading it? No, Marco’s too nice to do something like that._  
  
He sunk further into his mattress and buried himself under the covers until it was morning.   
  
Tiptoeing into her room, he peered in to see if she was still asleep. _She’ll be out of it until noon. At least I have one peaceful part of the day._ He grabbed a hair clip from his mother’s bedside table and clipped his bangs back. _Fuck, I need a haircut soon._ As her door closed behind him, Jean took his laptop from his backpack and sat on the couch for a few hours while writing.  
  
A series of knocks hit against the door. _Shit, she’s going to wake up._ Jean (carefully) shoved his burning hot laptop off of his legs and raced towards the door. His eyes instantly noticed Marco right in front of him.   
  
“Hi, Jean!” He smiled brightly at him. Jean could tell something was worrying Marco; usually his happy attitude wasn’t so forced.   
  
Jean couldn’t help but return his smile, and grinned. “Hey, Marco. Did you get my text?” He ran his fingers through his hair when he felt the clip still holding his bangs back. Jean’s face blushed- he always seemed to do that at least once around Marco- and he scrambled to take it off and throw it behind him.  
  
“You texted me? I didn’t check my phone, sorry…” he held back a laugh as he saw Jean notice the hairclip. “Heh, nice hair clip.”  
  
 _He didn’t see my apology? Fuck, could he be mad?_ “Don’t be sorry, it’s my fault I guess. I’m sorry I couldn’t go to the meet yesterday, I had to help my mom with a few things.” Remembering that his mom was usually a light sleeper when inebriated, he swam forward onto the porch and shut the door behind him.   
  
“Oh, uh, it’s okay. I normally can’t see who’s in the bleachers so I didn’t really notice, but Mikasa and Armin were worried,” Marco lied. Of course he noticed that Jean hadn’t showed, but he didn’t want to make it seem like a big deal.  
  
They spent a few seconds just looking at each other awkwardly when Jean’s sense snapped back into place. “You want to sit down or something?” He moved to go sit on the porch swing.   
  
“Sure!” Marco sat next to him, and started swinging them slowly. “I haven’t been on one of these in ages.”   
  
Jean laughed, he couldn’t help it, Marco was acting like a little kid. _He’s so cute._ This time Marco was the one to blush. _Yeah, I absolutely like guys, too._  
  
They sat there for a while, a comfortable silence blanketing over them. They would sneak glances at the other when they thought the other person wasn’t looking.   
  
“How’ve you been?” Marco questioned. _Maybe he’ll open up to me about something.  
  
_ “Eh, I’ve been better,” he said, nudging him in the arm as he spoke. “How have you been? How’s swimming going?”   
  
“Eh, I’ve been better,” he winked at Jean as he mimicked his words. “Swimming’s good, I didn’t break any records last night though.”  
  
The world seemed to slowly fall away as they talked about basically nothing important to each other. What their favorite colors were, the books they both had in common, how much they both wanted to get the hell out of Trost.   
  
Light sunshine started changing to darker hues as they noticed it was already getting close to nighttime. “I’d better get going soon,” Marco sighed.  
  
“Yeah, probably. We should do this again tomorrow or something.” _Oh god, does it sound like I’m asking him out on a date? That wouldn’t be such a bad thing, but…_ “A-as friends, y’know?”  
  
Marco laughed and nodded. “You’re pink again, Jean,” he teased him. “Don’t worry, it’s cute.” He summoned up every inch of courage he had as both of them got up. “See you tomorrow, then?”   
  
“Sure.” Jean watched as Marco turned around and started swimming back to his house. “Hey, Marco!” Jean swam forward and grabbed his wrist. “I think I want to be more than friends with you.” He leaned forward and pecked him on the cheek, then retreated back into his house as quickly as he could.   
  
Marco touched his cheek and grinned as he watched Jean swim off. “I want to be more than friends, too, Jean.”  _You make this sea of darkness just a little bit brighter._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is probably the end. I might come back to it later and write some more cute oneshots when they're boyfriends.


End file.
